Shabbos 40

If the halakha was derived by inference, what of it.”

The Rabbis have left the kitchen and entered the bathhouse. They turn their attention away from eggs and cooking pots and stoves to restrictions governing bathing on the Sabbath. Along the way we are given a lesson in inference and logic. We learn that “it is legitimate to draw conclusions by inference.” We also learn that the Jewish religious laws are established “with the compromise opinion,” although yesterday we were told that Rabbi Akiva lacked the authority in his compromise opinion to establish a middle ground between two mores senior disputing Rabbis. So, things are not as democratic as they might appear at first blush.

The Rabbis appear to have reached a middle ground on the laws of bathing in the Tiberias on the Sabbath, but it might have been because no one was listening to them in the first place. Rav and Shmuel are back with their opposing opinions. Rav says that one may wash his entire body on the Sabbath with hot water heated the day before if he washes one limb at a time, which is a departure from his normal practice and designed to show respect for the Sabbath. Shmuel counters that one may only wash one’s face, hands and feet with hot water on the Sabbath, but not this entire body.

We are told that on a festival day, Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya and Rabbi Akiva enter a steam room in a bathhouse that was sealed shut in order to keep the heat trapped within its domain and its pool was covered with boards so that there was no temptation to bathe. It is decided that the Rabbis were allowed to steam their pores on that day because it is permitted to enjoy the heat from a sealed bathhouse, regardless of whether there are boards blocking the water or not. However, this pleasure was later ruined by the masses who caught wind of the loophole in the Sabbath laws. As a result, the Rabbis no longer permitted steaming in this way. 

No one in the city listened to the Rabbis. We are told that in city bathhouses “one may stroll through them as usual and need not be concerned about the prohibitions of Shabbat, even if he sweats while doing so.” The Rabbis came up with a clever reason for why steaming on the Sabbath is permitted in cities but not in a small village. They say it is because the heat is much greater in a bathhouse in the village since it flows through a much smaller structure than the ones erected in the city. But let’s be honest. It’s because the people in the city were less apt to follow all the strict Rabbinic laws. 


The Rabbis attempted to find the middle ground in what they allowed on the Sabbath, but their decries were twisted by people who really just wanted to take a bath. Attendants in the bathhouses where people bathed would say they heated the water before the onset of the Sabbath but in some cases warmed it on the day itself. People would bathe in hot water but say instead they were sweating from the steam room or people would bathe in the bathhouse but indicate that they had bathed in the allowable hot springs of the Tiberias. In each case the Rabbis would issue decries prohibiting the activities in an attempt to keep their people in line, including disallowing bathing in the Tiberias. Eventually the Rabbis had to reverse their position on bathing in the Tiberias on the Sabbath because no one listened. 

The modern world has developed beyond anything the Rabbis imagined, including the city where I live, and there is only a small group that still follows their decrees beyond not just the spirit, but to the letter. The discussion on bathing on the Sabbath led me to wonder what this group of people do today on the Sabbath. Do they take cold showers or bathe the night before? I am used to taking a hot shower every day of the week no matter what. I never give much thought as to where the water comes from or how it is heated. I turn on the tap in my apartment building and the hot water helps me cross over from the fog of nighttime into the day. 

I found an article from My Jewish Learning that explains how people follow the laws of bathing today:

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/ask-the-expert-shower-on-shabbat/

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Shabbos 39